Julita Abbey was a Cistercian monastery

Monastery

Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...

 in the parish of Julita

Julita

Julita may refer to:* Julita, Leyte, municipality in the province of Leyte, Philippines* Juliţa, a village in Vărădia de Mureş Commune, Arad County, Romania...

 in Oppunda Hundred, Södermanland

Södermanland

', sometimes referred to under its Latin form Sudermannia or Sudermania, is a historical province or landskap on the south eastern coast of Sweden. It borders Östergötland, Närke, Västmanland and Uppland. It is also bounded by lake Mälaren and the Baltic sea.In Swedish, the province name is...

, Sweden

Sweden

Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

.

The monastery was originally founded in 1160 at Viby, close to Sigtuna

Sigtuna

Sigtuna is a locality situated in Sigtuna Municipality, Stockholm County, Sweden with 18 inhabitants in 2005. It is the namesake of the municipality even though the seat is in Märsta....

, but under the patronage of King Knut Eriksson, who donated land and a right to parts of the fishing at Älvkarleby

Älvkarleby

Älvkarleby is a locality situated in Älvkarleby Municipality, Uppsala County, Sweden with 1,648 inhabitants in 2005. It is not the seat of the municipality, a function uphold by Skutskär 7 km to the north.- References :...

, it was moved in 1180 to Säby by the lake Öljaren

Öljaren

Öljaren is a lake of Södermanland, Sweden....

 in Julita. The monastery was therefore also known as Säby, or Saba in Latin. It continued to receive rich donations from King Erik Knutsson (1210-1216), and later from other members of the aristocracy and royal circles. It was finally the owner of some 80 farms, mostly in Södermanland. At the time of the Protestant Reformation

Protestant Reformation

The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...

, King Gustavus Vasa

Gustav I of Sweden

Gustav I of Sweden, born Gustav Eriksson of the Vasa noble family and later known simply as Gustav Vasa , was King of Sweden from 1523 until his death....

 appropriated the abbey and gave it in fief to Olof Arvidsson, a bailiff in Nyköping

Nyköping

Nyköping is a locality and the seat of Nyköping Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 32,427 inhabitants in 2005. The city is also the capital of Södermanland County.- History :...

, in 1527. The secular estate thus created later had various possessors, including members of the Palbitzki and Lewenhaupt families.

In 1944, the Nordic Museum

Nordic Museum

The Nordic Museum is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the Early Modern age until the contemporary period...

 assumed the ownership of the estate in accordance with the will of the last private owner, Artur Bäckström. The manor is now a large open air museum

Open air museum

An open-air museum is a distinct type of museum exhibiting its collections out-of-doors. The first open-air museums were established in Scandinavia towards the end of the nineteenth century, and the concept soon spread throughout Europe and North America. Open-air museums are variously known as...

, incorporating a small part of the abbey in the basement of one of its wings, which is open to the public. Together with another small building originally located outside the cloisters, this is all that can be seen of the abbey today, though archaeological excavations have revealed the full extent of the main abbey buildings.

External links

• Julita manor. Information in English at the Nordic Museum
  Nordic Museum
  The Nordic Museum is a museum located on Djurgården, an island in central Stockholm, Sweden, dedicated to the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden from the Early Modern age until the contemporary period...
  
  website (linked 2008-08-19)